U.S. patent application number 11/058834 was filed with the patent office on 2006-08-17 for product design system and method.
This patent application is currently assigned to VistaPrint Technologies Limited. Invention is credited to Brian D. Hanechak.
Application Number | 20060184432 11/058834 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36816782 |
Filed Date | 2006-08-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060184432 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hanechak; Brian D. |
August 17, 2006 |
Product design system and method
Abstract
Computer-implemented product design creation system and method
for quickly developing a product design having desirable component
elements. Multiple candidate product designs are simultaneously
displayed for review. Controls are provided allowing a reviewer to
enter a preference level for individual component elements of each
of the displayed designs. A new set of candidate designs is created
based on the entered preference levels. The new candidate designs
are displayed for further review and further preference level
selection.
Inventors: |
Hanechak; Brian D.;
(Waltham, MA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
VISTA PRINT USA INC.;ATTN: PATENT COUNSEL
100 HAYDEN AVENUE
LEXINGTON
MA
02421
US
|
Assignee: |
VistaPrint Technologies
Limited
|
Family ID: |
36816782 |
Appl. No.: |
11/058834 |
Filed: |
February 16, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/26.5 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0641 20130101;
G06Q 30/0621 20130101; G06Q 30/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/027 ;
705/026 |
International
Class: |
G07F 7/00 20060101
G07F007/00 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method for substantially simultaneously
creating two or more modified designs, the method comprising:
providing two or more designs for simultaneous displaying to a
reviewer, each design having a plurality of design components,
providing at least one control adapted to allow the reviewer to
manually select a preference level for at least some of the design
components in the designs, receiving preference levels selected by
the reviewer, generating two or more modified designs substantially
simultaneously in accordance with the received preference levels,
and providing the modified designs for displaying to the
reviewer.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing the plurality
of designs for displaying to a second reviewer, the second reviewer
being in communication with the first reviewer and wherein the
reviewer selects preference levels in accordance with preferences
communicated to the reviewer by the second reviewer.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the plurality of designs is
provided to the reviewer for review prior to being provided to the
second reviewer for review.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein a design component is used in all
modified designs if the preference level for that design component
is set to a first preference level.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein a design component is not be used
in any modified designs if the preference level for that design
component is set to a second preference level.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising repetitively receiving
selected preference levels selected by the reviewer for at least
some of the design components in the modified designs and,
generating two or more new modified designs substantially
simultaneously in accordance with the most recently received
preference levels.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to online creation of product
designs.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Many Web sites provide online design services for users
desiring to create customized materials, such as business cards,
postcards, brochures, invitations, announcements, and the like,
from their home or office computer. These sites typically provide
their customers with the ability to access the site, review
available design templates, and use software tools provided by the
site to select a template, add text or other content, and perform
various modifications to create a personalized custom product
design. After the product has been designed by the user, the sites
also typically allow the user to place an order for the production
and delivery to the user's home or business of quantities of high
quality, printed products of the type that the user is not capable
of producing with the printer systems typically connected to most
personal computer systems.
[0003] Despite the widespread availability and use of home and
business computers and despite the advantages in cost, speed, and
convenience provided by online design and ordering systems, many
individuals and business in need of custom products are still
reluctant to use software tools to prepare their products. To serve
and assist these people, some printing service providers, such as
VistaPrint.com operated by VistaPrint Limited, employ design
representatives who will work with the customer and will perform
some or all of the product design for the customer.
[0004] Traditionally, the process of designer-assisted creation of
custom products involves multiple separate review sessions with
intervening periods of hours, or more often, days. Known tools for
designing electronic products typically are not adapted to "real
time" collaborative development of a product design. Traditionally,
a design services representative will collect information about the
customer and take the order, but the customer at this point
disengages from the process. At some later time, without direct
customer participation, a designer will review the order and create
a candidate design for review by the customer. The customer is then
contacted by phone or email and requested to review the candidate
design. A representative may participate in the review process, but
again typically for the purpose of noting any comments or
modifications requested by the customer. After delivering comments,
the customer again usually disengages from the process. The
designer, again separately, modifies the design for customer. This
process may be repeated one or more times.
[0005] Many potential problems are inherent in this approach. For
example, delays may lead to customer frustration, it may prove
difficult or time consuming to contact the customer when the new
design is ready for review, and, in some cases, the customer may
have a change of mind and decide to terminate the project,
resulting in wasted effort by the designer.
[0006] To increase customer satisfaction and also increase
development speed and productivity of the designers, there is
clearly a need for systems and methods that facilitate the rapid
cooperative development of custom personalized designs during the
course of a single conversation with a customer.
SUMMARY
[0007] The present invention is directed at satisfying the need for
systems and methods that allow for real time development of
customized product designs.
[0008] In one aspect of the invention, multiple designs are
displayed simultaneously to a reviewer. At least one control tool
is provided allowing the reviewer to manually set preference levels
for individual design components of the displayed designs and
generate multiple new designs based on the selected preference
levels.
[0009] It is an advantage of the invention that multiple new
designs reflecting the preference levels set by the reviewer can be
quickly developed.
[0010] Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention
will be better understood from reference to the accompanying
drawings, description, and claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a system with which
the invention can be employed.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a representative method for
employing the invention.
[0013] FIG. 3 is an illustrative representation of quick design
tools.
[0014] FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a representative method for using
the quick design tools of FIG. 3.
[0015] FIG. 5 is an illustrative representation of an image
selection tool.
[0016] FIG. 6 is an illustrative representation of a font selection
tool.
DESCRIPTION
[0017] Referring to FIG. 1, customer system (CS) 100 is a typically
equipped modern personal computer, but a portable computer, tablet
computer, or other device having appropriate technical capabilities
could be employed. CS 100 has the typical internal systems and
components, including a processor, memory and data storage systems,
a user display, one or more systems for receiving the user's
inputs, such as a mouse and keyboard, and a system for supporting
connection to and communication with a remote computer system over
a network In FIG. 1, CS 100 is running Web browser 102, such as
Internet Explorer from Microsoft Corporation, and communicates with
a design service provider's remote server system 120 via global
communication network 110. The operator of CS 100 is referred to
herein as a customer.
[0018] Design Services System (DSS) 120 represents a Web server
system operated by a service provider for performing product design
services for a remote user of a CS 100. DSS 120 could be
implemented as a separate product design system or could be
implemented as a feature or component of a printing services Web
site that also provides other services and products. It will be
understood that DSS 120 could be comprised of multiple servers,
data storage systems and other components configured to communicate
and operate cooperatively.
[0019] Representative system (RS) 130 is a typically equipped
modern personal computer and associated input/output devices. RS
130 is operated by an employee or agent, hereinafter referred to as
a representative, of the design service provider. RS 130 is running
Web browser 132 and is in communication with DSS 120 over global
network 110. As will be discussed further below, while the
representative is actively engaged with a customer at CS 100, the
representative will also typically be communicating with the
customer via communication connection 112.
[0020] For simplicity and clarity of description and presentation,
FIG. 1 depicts a single CS 100 and a single RS 130, but embodiments
of the invention are not so limited and there could be multiple RS
130 and CS 100 systems simultaneously connected to DSS 120. While
RS 130 is shown as connected to DSS 120 via global network 110,
this type of connection is not required. RS 130 could communicate
with DSS 120 via a direct connection or via a local communication
network.
[0021] Representative tools 140 represents the set of project
management and product design tools used by representatives to
exchange information with customers and other representatives,
monitor customer accounts, and create and edit customer designs.
Within representative tools 140 are quick design tools 142 and
representative design view (RDV) 144 that, as will be described in
more detail below, allow a representative to view and quickly
revise customized product designs in accordance with the wishes and
instructions of the customer while the representative and customer
are communicating.
[0022] Component memory 150 represents a portion of the memory
capacity of DSS 120 that is devoted to storing the library of
various component elements from which the individual component
elements used to create the design of a custom product will be
selected. While memory 150 is shown as a single block, it will be
understood that the various components elements could be stored in
multiple formats on multiple storage devices. In the embodiment
shown, the component elements stored in memory 150 are categorized
as layouts 152, images 154, color schemes 156, and fonts 158.
[0023] Layouts 152 contains a variety of product layout
descriptions specifying the size, position, and other attributes of
the component elements of the layout, such as text containers,
image containers, graphics, z-index values and so forth. Images 154
contains images available for incorporation into product designs
and associated image attributes, such as image size, a default
color scheme, and searchable keywords provided by the service
provider. Color schemes 156 contains sets of complementary colors
that have been pre-selected by the service provider to be applied
as a group in a design. Fonts 158 contains the fonts that have been
made available by the service provider for possible use in the
designs. It will be understood that more, fewer, or different
categories of components could be employed, if desired. For
example, the service provider could also provide a variety of text
groups, patterns, clip art, and shapes as selectable component
elements. Systems and methods for automatically creating custom
product designs using separately stored product component elements
are disclosed in co-pending and commonly assigned application Ser.
No. 10/449836 entitled "Electronic Document Modification" filed May
30, 2003 and application Ser. No. 10/679028 entitled "Electronic
Product Design" filed Oct. 3, 2003, the disclosures of which are
both hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
[0024] Customers contacting a representative seeking design
services will be required to create an account with the service
provider, unless an account already exists from an earlier
engagement. Customer area 160 represents the portion of DSS 120
established for this customer and containing the information
related to the customer's account. My Account 162 is the customer's
main account area for general account information. My Portfolio 164
includes images and information about product designs, if any, that
have previously been created and saved for that customer account.
My Projects 166 includes images and information about design
projects that are currently in process. Each of these areas could
contain a plurality of display pages and links allowing the
customer to navigate from one page to another and from one portion
of customer area 160 to another. Customer design view (CDV) 168, as
will be discussed in more detail below, is a Web page accessible to
the customer for reviewing candidate product designs prepared by
the representative.
[0025] FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an illustrative method for
employing the invention. At step 202 a communication channel is
established between a customer interested in obtaining design
assistance and a design representative of the provider. Voice
contact would typically be used for greatest speed and efficiency,
but communications could also be conducted in other ways, such as
by email, online chat, or instant messaging, if appropriate under
the particular customer's circumstances. Typically, but not
necessarily, the conversation will be initiated by the customer by
calling on the telephone.
[0026] During the initial customer interview, the representative
will gather information about the customer and the customer's needs
and will determine what action is appropriate for the particular
project desired by the customer. An account will be opened for the
customer if one does not already exist. In some cases, the
interview will indicate that the customer is seeking products or
services that the provider does not provide. In other cases, the
interview will lead the representative to conclude that the quick
design tools, described below, cannot be productively employed for
this customer, either because the customer does not have
co-browsing ability or because the scope or nature of the desired
project requires significant time or effort, requires special tools
or expertise not immediately available to the representative, or
otherwise is unsuitable for "real time" development by the
representative. As used herein, co-browsing ability means that the
customer has simultaneous access to both a communication connection
and a Web connection such that the customer and the representative
can be conversing while viewing Web pages.
[0027] For many customer projects, the representative will be able
to use quick design tools 142 to either complete a design that
meets with the customer's approval during the initial conversation
or to at least make significant progress toward a final design such
that the time to final completion of the design task is reduced. At
step 204, the representative will decide whether the initial
engagement will continue using quick design tools 142 or will
terminated. At step 206, if customer does not have co-browsing
ability or if the representative for other reasons believes that
the scope or nature of the customer's project indicates that quick
design tools 142 are not appropriate, the project is identified as
an "off line" design process. The customer is informed at step 208
that the design will be created at a later time or by another
representative. The customer is given appropriate instructions
regarding when and how the created design will be provided to the
customer for review. At step 206, if it is obvious to the
representative that the particular product or service desired by
the customer is not provided by the service provider, the
representative informs the customer accordingly and terminates the
engagement at step 210.
[0028] In those situations where the customer is able to co-browse
and where the project is appropriate for immediate design, the
representative will immediately initiate the design process at step
204.
[0029] A goal of the service provider is to prepare a customized
design that meets the requirements of the customer during the
course of a single conversation without requiring the customer to
endure long wait periods. As a part of conversation at step 202,
the representative collected relevant customer information. This
typically included both specific content information intended to be
incorporated into the product design and general information about
the customer and the purposes of the design. To the extent
practical, the representative will seek information from the
customer, such as the type of business or activity, the general
style or feeling that the customer wants the product to convey, and
any other details that could be useful to the representative in
selecting images, fonts, colors and other elements to be used in
the product design. The representative uses this information to
formulate one or more keywords for identifying suitable candidate
images from images 154 to be used in preparing designs for review
by the customer.
[0030] For illustrative purposes, the example of a customer
desiring a custom business card design will be discussed, but it
will be understood that the invention could be employed to design a
wide range of products. At step 212, the representative searches
for appropriate images using one or more keywords related to the
customer's business activities or the content or purpose of the
particular product being designed. DSS 120 retrieves images
associated with the specified keywords from images 254 and
automatically creates an initial set of six initial designs by
combining at least some of the retrieved images with six
pre-selected six business card layout and font combinations.
[0031] DSS 120 displays the created designs to the representative
on RDV 144 for preliminary review prior to making the images
available to the customer. At step 214, the representative may
decide that one or more of the initial automatically assembled
images are not suitable or appropriate. If the representative
desires to modify one or more designs, at step 216 the
representative can use quick design tools 142 to request
modifications to the designs and cause a new set of designs to be
generated for further representative review.
[0032] When the designs are acceptable to the representative at
step 214, at step 218 the representative will orally instruct the
customer on how to access CDV 168 to review the designs. Various
techniques could be used to guide the customer to CDV 168 in a
simple and easy way. For example, if the CDV 168 URL is not
excessively long or complicated, the representative could dictate
the URL to the customer such that the customer could directly type
the URL into the customer's browser address field. Alternatively,
the URL could be sent to the customer in an email or the customer
could be given a relatively simple temporary access code or
password to enter on the provider's home page or other easily
accessible page.
[0033] CDV 168 and RDV 144 will both display the identical set of
design images, but will differ in other content. As will be
discussed below in connection with FIG. 3, RDV 144 will provide
edit controls to the representative that are not seen or useable to
the customer allowing the representative to control the manner in
which the images will be revised.
[0034] While the representative and the customer are simultaneously
viewing the designs, the representative will query the customer to
determine what the customer like or dislikes about the designs. If
one of the initial designs happens to be completely satisfactory to
the customer at step 222, the representative will guide the
customer into the provider's purchase process at step 224. If the
customer is not ready to purchase, the representative may decide at
step 226 that the current quick design process should be
terminated, either by starting the off line design process at step
208 or terminating the engagement entirely at step 210. If the
representative believes that further revisions to the designs could
lead to a satisfactory product or, at least, serve to move the
design closer to something acceptable to the customer prior to
entering an off line design phase, the representation will choose
to continue the current engagement process.
[0035] As the customer and the representative are discussing the
customer's preferences relative to the current set of designs, the
representative will be manipulating the quick design tools at step
216. When the representative has gathered the customer's comments
and set the controls as desired, the representative will request
DSS 120 to generate a new set of designs as determined by the
settings of the tools. The representative reviews the designs at
step 214 and, if desired, makes one or more revisions prior to
making a set of new designs available to the customer. When the
representative is satisfied with the new designs, the
representative causes the new set of images to be made available to
the customer on CDV 168. This iterative process of discussion and
revision can be repeated until the customer selects a design for
purchase at step 222 or until the customer or the representative
determines at step 226 that the quick design process is no longer
productive. Termination at step 226 could be appropriate either
because some additional design preparation needs to be done as part
of an offline process at step 208 or because the representative or
the customer decides to completely terminate the engagement at step
210.
[0036] Turning now to FIG. 3, a representative embodiment of RDV
144 as displayed to a representative for creating a business card
design will be discussed. In this example, six candidate designs
301-306 are displayed. A greater or lesser number of designs could
have been used. Some customers may desire a card with a photograph
or other image while other customers may desire a more simple
design. The initial six designs are created to display a range of
possible choices. In the disclosed embodiment, some designs contain
images while others do not. In FIG. 3, image areas in the designs
are indicated in bold. For example, in design 301 the entire card
is covered by an image, in design 302 the upper left corner is
occupied by an image, and so forth. Designs 304 and 306 do not
contain an image, but have features like the curved line in design
304 and the intersecting lines in design 306. The designs also
shown the customer's personal contact information, or placeholder
text for any pieces of customer information that are not available,
all indicated generically in FIG. 3 by groups of Xs. In a typical
engagement, during step 202 the representative would have collected
the customer's name, address and other information desired to be
incorporated into the product and recorded it using other
components of representative tools 140.
[0037] Each design 301-306 is associated with a corresponding set
of edit controls 307-312, discussed in more detail below, for
allowing the representative to indicate the preferences of the
customer and quickly generate a revised set of designs reflecting
the preferences. RDV 144 also contains control buttons 313-316.
Button 313 allows the representative to access image selector 500,
discussed below. Button 314 allows the representative to access
font selector 600, discussed below. Button 315 allows the
representative to initiate the creation of a new set of images
after the representative has manipulated controls 307-312 as
desired. Finally, button 316 allows the representative to make the
six images available for viewing by the customer at CDV 168. As an
alternative to the representative using button 316 without customer
action, the representative could orally request the customer to
refresh the CDV 168 display. Additional buttons, tools, and
controls, not shown, could be provided on CDV 168 to allow the
representative to perform other tasks or take other actions.
[0038] Still referring to FIG. 3, the operation of controls 307-312
will be discussed. Each set of controls is identical in structure.
Radio buttons are shown in FIG. 3, but it will be understood that
various other control systems could be employed. In the disclosed
embodiment, three types of component elements of the design are
individually controllable: the layout, the image, and the font.
More or fewer individually controllable component types could have
been employed. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 3, the color
scheme used for the design is not independently selectable using
controls 307-312. In this embodiment, the default color scheme that
is associated with the selected image is automatically used in the
design. As an alternate embodiment, controls 307-312 could be
adapted to make the design color scheme selectable independently
from the design image.
[0039] Within each control 307-312 are three rows of radio buttons
arranged into four columns of three buttons and labeled as columns
1-4. Each row of buttons is labeled with one of the three types of
selectable components in the design and is used by the
representative to indicate the customer's opinion, or preference
level, regarding the associated component element. For each
control, the button in column 1 indicates that the associated
component element is undesirable and should not be used in
revisions of the designs. The button in column 2 indicates that the
customer is neutral or expressed no opinion regarding this
component element. When controls 301-306 are initially displayed to
the representative, column 2 is the default pre-selected preference
level for all control buttons. The button in column 3 indicates
that the customer likes this component element and is interested in
seeing similar elements or seeing this same element in other
combinations. The button in column 4 indicates that the customer
specifically wants this component element in the customer's design.
This component will be used in all revisions of the designs.
[0040] Each set of controls 301-306 also includes a "Bingo" button.
When a customer sees a design that is fully satisfactory to the
customer and the customer expresses a desire to purchase products
using that design, the representative clicks the associated Bingo
button, which automatically saves the selected combination of
design components as the customer's choice.
[0041] Referring now to FIG. 4, a process for interpreting the
representative's manipulations of controls 307-312 will be
discussed. The layout, image, and font are controlled
independently; therefore the outcome in FIG. 4 is independently
determined for layout, image and font. In the disclosed embodiment,
the provider has manually divided the available layouts into four
families of similar layouts based on overall appearance factors,
such as the size and position of image containers and arrangement
of text. Similarly, the provider has manually divided the available
fonts into four families of similar fonts based on the overall
style and appearance of the fonts. The choice of using four
families is not significant and more or fewer family divisions
could have been employed. The set of images retrieved based on the
keywords entered by the representatives is treated as a single
family.
[0042] As mentioned above, in response to comments made by the
customer, the representative will change the preference level
status of one or more of the controls 307-312. When the
representative has made the appropriate changes, the representative
selects button 313 at step 313, causing DSS 120 to prepare a set of
six new designs based on the status of controls 307-312.
[0043] At step 404, if one or more column 4 buttons are selected,
at step 406 the associated component element or elements are
selected for use in all of the next six designs. No other elements
of that component type (layout, image, or font) will be used in the
next designs except the element or elements that were assigned a
preference level of 4.
[0044] At step 408, if one or more column 1 buttons were selected,
at step 410 any component elements assigned a column 1 preference
level are eliminated from the available elements and will not
appear in the next set of designs. At step 412, if one or more
column 3 buttons are selected for a font or a layout, the
associated component element or elements, and members of the same
element family or families, will be used in the next designs. At
step 416, if no column 3 or 4 preference level was selected for the
component type in any control 307-312, DSS 120 will, after
eliminating any elements associated with a column 1 preference
level, select the components to be used in the modified designs
from all available families. In selecting the component elements to
be used for the next set of designs, DSS 120 could select the most
popular elements or use any of various other techniques, such as
round robin or random selection. When the customer's preferences
regarding the component elements for each component type in the
current designs preference levels have been taken into account, new
candidate designs are created by DSS 120 at step 520.
[0045] Because images are considered to be a single family in the
disclosed embodiment, the column 3 button for the image component
will not be active and will not be used by the representative. The
representative will, if appropriate, use image selector 500 to
manually choose or eliminate other available images. Image selector
500 is accessed from display 300 by button 313 and displays the set
of images that are associated with the keyword or keywords entered
by the representative. In the example, shown in FIG. 5, the keyword
search returned seven images 501-507 associated with that keyword
or keywords. Associated with each image is a single row of radio
buttons similar in arrangement and function to the buttons in
controls 307-312. Initially, the neutral second button is
selected.
[0046] If the representative selects the first, or leftmost,
preference level button for one or more images, that image or
images will not be used in the next set of designs. If the user
selects the fourth, or rightmost, button for one or more images,
that image or images will be the only images used in the next set
of candidate designs. As mentioned above, while four radio buttons
are always displayed in connection with entering preferences for
all types of components, the third button is not used for image
preferences and is deactivated. If no fourth button preference is
selected, all of the images, except the images having a first
button preference selection, will be available for selection and
use in future designs.
[0047] If a relatively large number of font choices are provided,
the representative may also choose to provide the representative
with a font selection tool, such as font selector page 600,
allowing the representative to select a font or font family
independently of controls 307-312. Selector 600 displays examples
of the fonts organized by the font families established by the
provider. Each font has an associated set of four radio buttons for
selecting preference levels, again initially all set to the second
neutral default position. If the representative selects the first,
or leftmost, preference level button for one or more fonts, that
font or fonts will not be used in the next set of designs. If the
representative selects the fourth, or rightmost, preference level
button for one or more fonts, that font or fonts will be the only
fonts used in the next set of candidate designs. Selection of the
third button for one or more fonts will cause that one or more
fonts to appear in future designs plus other fonts chosen from the
same family. If no preference levels 3 or 4 are selected, all
fonts, except any fonts having a first button preference level,
will be available for font component selection.
[0048] While an exemplary embodiment of the invention has been
discussed, the described embodiment is to be considered as
illustrative rather than restrictive. For example, while quick
design tools 142 has been discussed in the context of a design
services tool that is used "internally" by representatives of a
service provider for the benefit of remote customers, a
representative is not essential to the use of the tool The tool
could readily be provided for direct customer use as a "self
service" custom product design tool on the service provider's Web
site. The scope of the invention is as indicated in the following
claims and all equivalent methods and systems.
* * * * *